1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a luminaire for installation in an electrical household appliance. Particularly, the luminaire, in certain embodiments, is arranged to illuminate an interior space of the household appliance. Examples of a household appliance in which illumination of the interior space may be desirable include a washing machine and an electric oven.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As regards conventional luminaires which are suitable for illuminating the interior space of a washer drum belonging to a washing machine, the reader is referred to DE 38 43 385 A1, DE 38 43 386 A1 and WO 2011/012292 A1.
German Published Patent Appl. No. DE 38 43 385 (Krimphoff et al., 1990) discloses a front-loading drum-type washing machine with an electrical light source for illuminating the laundry-drum interior. The laundry drum is arranged rotatably in a tub and a concertina-type seal extends between the machine housing and the tub around the loading orifice. The loading orifice is closed by a pot-like bull's eye door window extending as far as the laundry drum. The electrical light source is enclosed in a transparent protective hollow body which is retained in the front side of the machine housing and which is guided through the concertina-type seal in such a way that its light-exit part is located essentially outside the concertina-type seal.
German Published Patent Appl. No. DE 38 43 386 (Gute et al., 1990) discloses a front-loading drum-type washing machine with an electrical light source for illuminating the laundry-drum interior. The laundry drum is arranged rotatably in a tub and a concertina-type seal extends between the machine housing and the tub around the loading orifice. The loading orifice is closed by a pot-like bull's eye door window extending as far as the laundry drum. The electrical light source is provided outside the tub. The light source is assigned a light guide which is guided through the concertina-type seal and which is directed with its light-exit region towards the inside of the laundry-drum rear wall.
PCT Published Appl. No. WO 2011/012292 (Schenkl, 2011) discloses a household appliance light emitting device having a light diode that emits a light beam having a cross-section area and a light deflection device through which the light beam travels and that deflects the entering light beam such that the light beam exits asymmetrically to the optical axis of the household appliance light emitting device from the light deflection device. The light deflection device is designed integrally with a housing where the light diode is arranged.